Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club

HAPPY FEET FAMILY FUN RUN
Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club
fun run

FUN RUN photos by Wesley Eaton

kid

Running a 1-K

It's all about healthy fun and it's so easy. Just get together on a Saturday morning, bring your families and running shoes, then run a 1-K. Plain and simple. Loads of fun.

A family fun run is a great way for kids to share their new found love for exercise and healthy living with their families.

For our club fun runs, we chose the "NO FUSS" approach. Our fun run was a huge success. How do I know? I measure success by the smiles on people's faces, the amount of activity, and the feeling of excitement in the air.

If we can make it happen, so can you. Here are a few tips for having a Happy Feet Family Fun Run and making it a success.

family

MAKE IT PART OF YOUR KIDS' CLUB
If a fun run is an isolated event, it can be a good chance for children and their families to participate in an athletic event and earn a medal, BUT if a fun run is part of an after-school program, which children anticipate and "train" for as a group, then it becomes an inspirational party, a graduation ceremony, a family get together, and a recital all wrapped into one.

It's a place where kids can show their skills and share their fun with their families. Today their families become part of their club.

girls

KEEP IT SIMPLE
A mid-morning 1-K event need only involve running. The kids have been bringing healthy snacks to club all semester. They've learned about healthy foods and eating the healthy stuff has become habit. Make the fun run about running. No muss, no fuss. Ask the children to bring their own water bottles.

Get together, go for a run and go home. If you can keep the cost and "cleanup" down, then you'll be more apt to have it again. It's what we do. No committee is needed to stay after to pick up trash.

dad/son

EVERYONE EXERCISES
This isn't an event for parents to sit back and applaud their children.

It's a time for everyone to exercise. Kids get the message that something is important if their parents participate with them. Assume that parents will run, walk, or do a little of each. Take a moment, give the kids the usual reminders. Tell them to pace themselves (start out EASY and pick up the pace when you feel good), be careful passing others, and take a walking break if you need one.

Then let the kids who want to run really fast go first. Some kids will zoom ahead, others will want to run with their parents, siblings, or some like to just tool along at their own pace by themselves.

brothers

PRECIOUS JUNK
Have some mementos for children to take home with them. We gave out printed "Happy Feet Ribbons" and red sparkler Happy Feet, Healthy Food wristbands. A couple of tips. Check the printing on the ribbons carefully. Read the fine print! If not, you may find that you must get the ribbons reprinted as we do.

If you choose to give out "wristbands" purchase a double quantity. The wristbands are a one-time item. Once you snap them on your wrist. You must cut them to get them off. With two bands, they can wear one the day of the event, and then have another to do something permanent with (fasten to backpack or lunchbox, or another creative alternative).

group

REMEMBER IT'S A FUN RUN, NOT A RACE
Sure a few kids will race. It's their nature and for them it's more fun this way, but the message to the mainstream should be, "It's not a RACE!" Everyone gets a ribbon. There are no first-place trophies to be given out, and no one is really paying attention to who came in first for EVERYONE is running.

"Kids stay LEAN & FIT by exercising with their families."
-Carol Goodrow